Indoor gardening enthusiasts and Bonsai growers will find this book absolutely fascinating! Hon Non Bo is an art form that has been practiced in Viet Nam for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, the nation’s long history of war resulted in many documents being destroyed so we have no recorded history of exactly when this plant art form developed or a historical record of people who helped to develop it.
I picked this book up because I liked the idea of combining beautiful rock forms with bonsai-type plantings. I really appreciated the authors starting the book with a brief explanation of how Vietnamese words are properly pronounced. Unfortunately, I was unable to apply the correct markings to some words in this book’s title (Hon Non Bo). I took special note that the same group of letters with differing pronunciation marks results in words with totally different meanings.
The authors begin the book with an introduction to Vietnamese landscapes and scenery. This was necessary because this particular plant and rock art form tries to mimic what is seen in nature. The art form celebrates the Vietnamese’s worship of rocks. Their landscapes are built using the Japanese philosophy of Heaven-Man-Earth as applied in training bonsai. According to this book, Heaven represents the area above the earth, man represents the craftsman who creates the landscape and Earth represents the natural world. As you read the first two chapters, you gain an important understanding of Vietnamese history and see many fine examples of Hon Non Bo. I was surprised to see that some were large enough to be displayed outside as a permanent installation while others are created on low trays which can easily be moved about. Chapter 3 delves deeper into the art form and explains some of the themes used in the art form.
The beautiful pictures will no doubt make you want to try creating one of these scenes for your own enjoyment. Chapter 4 takes you step by step through the process. It may be difficult for those of us in the West to find the appropriate stones to use though. A cursory glance through the book may lead to a misunderstanding of exactly what makes a Hon Non Bo scene. I appreciated the authors’ discussion of how Hon Non Bo is different from bonsai, suiseki, and penjing. They sum up Hon Non Bo by stating:
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